Martial arts expert beats the odds
Published:Sunday | October 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Ainsley Walters, Gleaner Writer
HARRISON 'Harry' Ching-Hing, at 54 years old, became one of the highest ranked Jamaican martial artists when he successfully graded for sixth-degree black belt on August 19 in Ocho Rios.
After 31 years in tae kwon do, Harry deserves every stripe on his black belt. He was among a trio of Jamaicans - Gordon Black and Rohan Bowes were the others - who increased the island's tally of sixth-degree International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) black belts to five.
However, in the language of Jamaican Internet sensation 'Cliftwang', Harry almost never crossed it.
Two years ago, Harry weighed in at 160lb, ideal for his height, about 5' 8" tall, and was senior instructor at Mandeville Taekwondo when his genes, according to medical science, dealt him a dead man's hand.
"I was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, cancer of the nasal passage in October 2008 - October 24 to be exact," Harry recounted. "I did radiation and chemotherapy from November 16, 2008 to January 25, 2009."
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most common cancer originating in the uppermost region of the throat, behind the nose where the nasal passages joins the remainder of the upper respiratory tract.
Rare cancer
In the same way that African-American men and Jamaican men of African descent have the highest prostate cancer incidence rates in the world, Harry Ching-Hing's rare cancer is also linked to his oriental ancestry.
NPC is uncommon in most nations but is extremely prevalent in southern regions of China, accounting for 18 per cent of all cancers in that country.
It is seen primarily in middle-age persons in Asia and is sometimes referred to as Cantonese cancer because it occurs in about 25 cases per 100,000 people in that region, 25 times higher than the rest of the world. It is also quite common in Taiwan.
It took intense treatment to get Harry back on track, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, simultaneously.
"I feel good I am still alive," he said. "I think it's my training and physical fitness through tae kwon do that kept me alive. Many people thought I was gone," he added.
"In some cancers, you do one first. I had to do both together. It mashed me up. It was not an easy road. I lost 42 pounds. From 160, I came down to 118. I am back up now to 135. That is because of my training, diet and a whole lifestyle change."
Harry, like most cancer patients, didn't have a clue.
"I had a swollen lymph node on the right side of my neck, which would not go away," he said.
A lymph node is a small ball or an oval-shaped organ of the immune system, distributed widely throughout the body, including the armpit and stomach/gut. They act as filters or traps for foreign particles. They are important in the proper functioning of the immune system. They become inflamed or enlarged in various conditions, which may range from trivial, such as a throat infection, to life-threatening, such as cancers.
Surgery
"We started investigating and tests came back negative, showing nothing but inflammation. They put me on antibiotics for two weeks, but it still wouldn't go away. We did some scans on my neck, chest and stomach and it showed multiple lymph nodes around the base of my neck."
Harry soon went under the knife and when one of the lymph nodes was removed it was found to be malignant. That was October 24, 2008.
"We started treatment on November 16, 2008, chemotherapy every three weeks and radiation five days a week. I got so sick and weak in December I had to cease treatment and was hospitalised for a week. I was losing too much weight. Not eating and dehydrated, I lost 13lb in three days," he recounted.
However, he resumed treatment on December 27 and continued to January 25, 2009.
"After I finished treatment in January 2009, I was at home until April I decided I couldn't stay in any longer. I started a small training session in June, home training, and went back to the gym in January 2010.
"I restarted tae kwon do training to regain physical fitness. It was against my doctor's advice but I explained to her, 'I know how my body feels and I appreciate the fact that you don't want me to'.
"I started with a half-hour and increased my time, training with three of my students, Rohan Bowes, Gordon Black and Jolene Masters who just graded for fifth degree. I started intense training January this year and did the exam on August 19.
"It is an achievement I never thought would have been possible for me after that illness. I would recommend physical training to anybody. Your body has to be in good physical condition or illness will mash you up," said Harry, who is a member of the Jamaica Rifle Association and calls Woodleigh shooting range in Clarendon his home base.
No easy feat
Martial arts grading is no walk in the park, Harry explained, pointing out that he was among many from the Pan-Am region who graded in Jamaica under the eyes of ITF grandmaster Williem Jacob Bos from Italy and Hector Morano from Argentina, both ninth-degree black belts.
"They're on the technical committee of ITF. They travel all over the world to grade and teach international instructors' courses," he pointed out.
Although reaching sixth degree, now second only to Jamaica's Peter Lue, the only seventh-degree in the Caribbean, Harry was still being graded, up to a week ago - to see whether the cancer has returned.
"I was put on checks, every three months, for about a year. After that year, there were checks every six months, now it's one check per year.
"The doctors told me there's no guarantee with any cancer treatment, you have to keep checking to make sure, change your lifestyle, the way you eat, everything. If you check and you find anything at all, you're back in the hospital.
"I was back in the hospital last week, for a day, to remove another lymph node from under my left arm. That's gone to the lab, I don't have that result yet. It's a continuous fight. When a man says he has a battle with cancer, once diagnosed, it's a 10-year battle.
"Who survives are those who change their lifestyle. If you go back to drinking rum and eating all the sugars, you won't survive a year.
Cancer loves sugars and stress.
"I exercise and try to eat healthy plus you have to have good people around you to help you with the stress. I have family and good friends who rally around me. I try to keep a positive outlook on life. If you let stress bother you, you're back to square one. I'm gone three years and battling on," he said.
One of those friends, Jason McKay, who captains Jamaica's combined martial arts team, said Harry's accomplishment, to grade for sixth degree, "was fantastic, even by itself, but for a man to come from his deathbed and take on one of the most difficult exams to prepare for, physically and mentally, is a demonstration of the measure of the man".